Sliding door wheel mounting structure

ABSTRACT

A wheel mounting for a sliding door on an elongated track which facilitates initial installation, and later replacement, of the mounting without removal of the door from the car or disassembly of door elements or of wheel mounting elements.

1 1 1 mte States Patent 1 1 9 5 Wolak Sept. 25, 1973 [54] SLIDING DOORWHEEL MOUNTING 1,898,582 2/1933 Madland 16/99 STRUCTURE 1,946,549 2/19342,226,681 12/1940 [75] Inventor: Thomas J. Wolak, Cicero, 111. 2,274 3733 1942 Assignee: Evans Products p y 2,344,903 3/1944 Shields 16/99Plymouth, Mich. v Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor 2 F 2] fled Jan 1972Att0rneyRodney Bedell et a1. [21] Appl. No.: 221,965

52 U.S.C1. 49/426, 16/97 [571 ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl E05d 13/00 A Wheelmounting for a Sliding door on an elongated [58] Field of Search 49/425,426, 404, t k h f t l n d1 49/219, 220; 16/96 R 97 107 103 98 99 i es "g1; "2 f p acemen o e moun mg W1 ou remova o e door from the car ordisassembly of door elements or [56] uNlTE gfiii r gs giiENTs of wheelmounting elements.

1,826,049 10/1931 Cambell 49/426 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEI]SEPZSIHH FIG 2 FIGA FIG,3

I SLIDING DOOR WHEEL MOUNTING STRUCTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONSliding doors of the type illustrated, as usually applied to railwayboxcars, are subject to rough usage which frequently necessitatesreplacement of a wheel and repair of the portion of the door framingmounting the wheel which may include a member of box section or invertedchannel section extending the length of the door and form a housing forthe wheel. Repair of a damaged mounting is difficult. It has beencustomary to remove the door from the car, burn through the framingmember fore and aft of the damaged wheel assembly, bend the adjacentsection upwardly and outwardly, remove the damaged wheel and mountingparts and substitute a similar assembly, then return the bent-up sectionto its original position, enclosing the wheel assembly, and weld therebent part where it has been burned away.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects of the present invention are toimprove the wheel mounting structure and to facilitate repair orreplacement of the same without removing the door from the track. Theinvention contemplates the use of a cartridge unit comprising a housing,a mounting shaft, a roller bearing and a wheel applicable as a unit to anew door, or as a replacement for damaged parts mounting the doorstructure on the supporting track while the door is on the car.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION Of THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view ofa railwayhouse car illustrating one embodiment of the present invention andincluding a sliding door and a lower framing member extending from endto end of the door and receiving spaced wheel assemblies which may beremoved therefrom and replaced.

FIG. 2 is a detail side view on a larger scale of the lower left-handcorner of the door and wheel mounting as indicated in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are detail vertical transverse sections on lines 3--3 and44 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Door 1 includes a door lower panel sheet 3 offsetoutwardly at 5, downwardly at 6, inwardly at 7 and downwardly at 8 whereit is welded to an inner panel sheet 9 and forms therewith a box-sectionframing member 10 extending substantially the full width of the door. Ashort gap 11 in member 10 near each end of the door provides for thelateral passage therethrough of an inverted U-shaped wheel housing 12having an upper horizontal portion 13 seated against the underside ofthe cut-away portion 14 of offset 5. The lower portion of the outer legof housing 12 overlaps a door track 15 carried by bracket 17 on a carunderframe sill 18.

A shaft 19, roller bearing 20 and wheel 21 in housing 12 forms therewitha cartridge unit and the edges of the housing are welded at W to theedges of the gap in member 10 so that housing 12 forms a continuation ofthe offset portions of member 10 across the gap.

When any part of the cartridge is damaged and replacement is necessary,welds W may be burned away at B, the wheel housing assembly removed andreplaced with a new cartridge, and freshly welded at W. The wheelhousing forms a continuation of the boxsection carriage housing andreinforces the lower portion of the door and in turn may be removed andreplaced if necessary.

Preferably housing 12 is formed of thicker metal than member 10 and hasa greater over-all transverse width so that its outer leg abuts theupright edges of the gap and may be welded to the housing as indicated.

It will be apparent that a door as originally constructed may includethe wheel housing unit as shown in FIG. 2, united at its ends and alongits top with the door lower frame member, and may be removed forreplacement of damaged wheel and other parts. But the invention is notlimited to such original construction, and may be embodied in repairinga wheel housing formed by a continuous frame member 10 as present on theoriginal door. It is only necessary to remove a section of the framemember and replace it with a cartridge as described. The inventioncomprises the use of such combination of elements or other variation indetails as included in the appended claims irrespective of the originaldoor structure.

I claim:

1. A railway sliding door structure comprising a lower horizontalframing member of box section having a relatively short gap in its outerand lower walls adjacent an end of the door, and a cartridge unitinsertible and removable through said gap and including an invertedU-shaped housing secured in said gap, and including a transverse shaftmounted in the legs of said housing and a wheel rotatable on said shaftand projecting below the bottom wall of said box-section framing member.

1 2. In a railway house car sliding door structure, a door track, alower box-section door framing member including an inner plate memberextending substantially the full width of the door and opposing theinner side of said track, a parallel plate extending outwardly,downwardly and inwardly from the portion of said inner plate memberabove its lower edge and forming therewith a hollow member and having arelatively short portion removed and providing a gap with upright edges,and a wheel housing cartridge unit mounted in said gap and welded tosaid edges and forming a continuation of said framing member across saidgap.

3. In a railway house car sliding door structure, a lower panel outerplate member part with elements in the lower part offset outwardly anddownwardly, and an inner plate secured to said outer plate above saidoffset part and extending downwardly and spaced laterally from said partand forming a hollow box-shaped reinforcement substantially along thefull length of the door, there being a gap in said offset part, and aselfcontained wheel and housing unit fitting in said gap and secured tosaid offset elements and forming a continuation of the same across saidgap.

1. A railway sliding door structure comprising a lower horizontalframing member of box section having a relatively short gap in its outerand lower walls adjacent an end of the door, and a cartridge unitinsertible and removable through said gap and including an invertedU-shaped housing secured in said gap, and including a transverse shaftmounted in the legs of said housing and a wheel rotatable on said shaftand projecting below the bottom wall of said box-section framing member.2. In a railway house car sliding door structure, a door track, a lowerbox-section door framing member including an inner plate memberextending substantially the full width of the door and opposing theinner side of said track, a parallel plate extending outwardly,downwardly and inwardly from the portion of said inner plate memberabove its lower edge and forming therewith a hollow member and having arelatively short portion removed and providing a gap with upright edges,and a wheel housing cartridge unit mounted in said gap and welded tosaid edges and forming a continuation of said framing member across saidgap.
 3. In a railway house car sliding door structure, a lower panelouter plate member part with elements in the lower part offset outwardlyand downwardly, and an inner plate secured to said outer plate abovesaid offset part and extending downwardly and spaced laterally from saidpart and forming a hollow box-shaped reinforcement substantially alongthe full length of the door, there being a gap in said offset part, anda self-contained wheel and housing unit fitting in said gap and securedto said offset elements and forming a continuation of the same acrosssaid gap.